Today marks the one year anniversary since WHO declared Covid a global pandemic... gives new meaning to the "we're all in this together" doesn't it??
One year ago the schools closed and I volunteered to home school the little one - how difficult was this going to be right?? a couple of weeks..... no wait a couple of months.. no wait till the end of the school year. I supervised math and grammar and reading and writing in the mornings.. and then in the afternoon we 'travelled around the world' learning about different countries.. different cultures.. different foods. BUT she'd go back to school in September right? one year in and I am still teaching ......
Shopping once a week - but mostly ordering online and Sir Steve would pick up on his way home from work....... we'd get 75% of our order.. and weird things would be missing like milk?! and once I asked for fruit - any fruit - and we got none. So one hour a week in the grocery store - masked - hand sanitizing like mad.. scrubbing hands when I finally got home...
Family birthdays / holidays - standing on the front lawn - keeping our 2 meter distance - in the cold and the rain.. just to see their faces. Christmas done via facetime.... and I thought Christmas was loud and confusing before!!!
We were allowed to move to the country in May .. and we stayed till September - still isolating but at least it was in the country.... a small bright spot in the darkness.
And now - vaccines and hope - and anticipation ............. watching the numbers go down in our small town... celebration......... AND then this week ... and we have 5 outbreaks in Long Term Care homes. F I V E !!! weren't they all supposed to have received vaccines?? AND our numbers are soaring and the health unit is saying they will put us back in the red zone (don't ask - they have colour coded everything!) Feeling there is no end to this......... feeling of desperation - weren't we all promised everyone vaccinated by September?? Is it ever going to improve ?? (note I did NOT say 'going to end' - cause it's not - you know that right?)
Wondering what one year from now will hold for us all............
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spring .... and the promise of renewal that comes with it
I'm very grateful that I haven't had to do the teaching you've had to do. We don't see people, we bring in food rather than eat out, but I think my year was better than most. I like to read and write and mostly that's what I did all year.
ReplyDeletePK I am an introvert and under normal conditions I long to be able to 'hibernate' and not go out -- but there's something about enforce solitude that is wearing me down - you know?
DeleteYeah it's been rough, but we are so spoiled as a society. Imagine living in Europe in the 1300s. One third of the population died. A third! No one understood transmission let alone the intricacies of vaccination. And that wasn't fiction. It really happened.
ReplyDeleteAnd here, with everything we DID know, we had buffoons disparaging the veracity of there even being a pandemic, and then eschewing masks once it was no longer possible to claim the virus a hoax.
If this year taught me anything, it was to fear my fellow Americans far more than Covid19. At least with vaccination, the virus may one day be eliminated. Stupid and dangerous Americans are here to stay.
I don't know why things are going that way where you are, but I'll bet there's stupidity at the root of it.
(rant over, LOL)
kd - trust me I have done a lot of ranting recently - last night I wrote our Premier Mr. Ford - our local newspaper - our local member of parliament and a not so local national TV news show. I know none of those emails will make one bit of difference -- but DAMN! I am so frustrated / discouraged......
ReplyDeleteIF we didn't live in a small town I would probably have some idea when I will be in line for a shot -- but small towns tend to be overlooked ..... shrug
One year.....sigh.....so long and not long enough. It was blissful last year when we first were all at home. Even now, I am the only one who leaves (stupid me and starting a new job in September), but we spend all our time together. I love how close as a family we are now.
ReplyDeleteBut, missing celebrations, watching the struggle of friends dealing with too much, feeling the anger at stupid people including our Premier who started so well and has just washed his hands of it lately.
However, the sun is shining today....the days are longer...sometimes, life is good just for those reasons
Hugs
Boo
yes thank goodness for sunshine (just home from walking the lil one and the dog) and warmer temperatures ... and this weekend longer days!!
Deletenodding I know what you mean Windy -- I have anxiety normally - but it is worse now.. and my OCD is kinda kicking it into overdrive cause of the loss of control I feel.
ReplyDeleteas much you as you and kd feel negative against the state of affairs in America - you folks at least are having a faster roll out on vaccines.. oh well - one day I will get mine - hopefully sooner than later
I think that everyone is suffering from a case of Covid fatigue.
ReplyDeleteApart from a couple of trips away during a lull in the pandemic (that I am thankful for and think they saved my sanity) I have had a year of solitary confinement with day release for work.
The vaccine roll out seems so painfully slow.
I think that it will do us all good to see friends and family, in the old-fashioned way, with hugs, kisses and handshakes. This will end but when?
Prefectdt
Prefectdt - I know I post a lot of woe's me posts re the pandemic -- but it's nice to know that I am not alone in this fatigue -- and it's even nicer to know that it is more or less world wide - not just here in the Great White North :)
ReplyDeleteIt certainly has been a year in many ways, not just covid. I can't imagine dealing with lockdowns, homeschooling etc for this long. We have been so very fortunate here, largely due to sensible decisions on the part of our Government. Plus, I guess being three islands at the bottom of the world helps lol
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry things are going in the wrong direction there again. You have to wonder why after being on a downward trend. Here's hoping the rollout of vaccines globally turns things around.
Hugs
Roz
Sigh. Yes. what a year. we had some major and i mean MEGA outbreaks in the foreign worker dormitories here at one point and it was terrifying. Highest number recorded was 18 cases in the community, compared with 1400+ in the dormitories in a single day! That happened on April 7 last year, and thankfully it has been managed, they've been treated, and there have been NO MORE crazy ass outbreaks.
ReplyDeleteHomeschooling is tough and you're such a champ at it! *salute*
nodding - it's frustrating and scary when you see so many cases in dormitories and in our case LTC homes. We have 8 outbreaks here in LTC homes and 6 SIX! of them in our little town. It skewers our numbers as this is not community spread but we could be put back into a lockdown as all the authorities see are the total numbers.
Deletethanks for the thumbs up on our home schooling...